The U.S. Senate confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday, installing the first permanent leader in nearly a year at an agency battered by staff losses and low morale.
Schwartz was confirmed in a 51-44 vote, becoming the 22nd head of the Atlanta-based agency tasked with protecting Americans from preventable health threats. At 54, she brings a background that spans both medicine and law, including a term as deputy surgeon general and a leadership role at the U.S. Coast Guard.
She is President Donald Trump’s third nominee to run the CDC, and her confirmation marks a rare success for an administration that has struggled to fill senior health posts. The vote followed a rocky path through the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
During a hearing last month, committee chairman Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and others pressed Schwartz on whether she would resist orders from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that lacked scientific backing. Her nomination appeared unsteady in the aftermath.
Cassidy later reversed course, saying his confidence in the nominee grew after speaking with her directly and consulting people who knew her professionally. “I had spoken with Schwartz after that hearing and with others who knew her,” he indicated, describing a shift toward support.
The scrutiny reflected broader tensions over the direction of U.S. public health policy, an area that has drawn intense debate since Kennedy faced questioning over his stance on vaccines earlier in the administration.
The CDC has been in turmoil since Trump returned to office last year. Layoffs and resignations have reduced the workforce by more than 3,000 employees, over a quarter of its staff, while a rotating cast of mostly temporary leaders has left the agency without stable direction.
The front office has been staffed largely by political appointees with little or no formal training in medicine or public health, contributing to a steep decline in morale among career scientists.
When Schwartz was nominated in April, public health experts responded with cautious optimism, pointing to her medical credentials as a potential stabilizing influence at a critical moment for the institution.
Her confirmation now places a permanent, credentialed leader at the helm as the agency confronts questions over its independence, staffing shortfalls, and its capacity to respond to future health threats.